Party at Capeside
by moonshadow3
Summary: A multi-part DC story (NOT DJ) about a charity party, featuring all characters. 2 chapters so far. For ALL DC fans.
1. A Gathering of Friends

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THE PARTY

Story started May, 2002

By Moonshadow

-Chapter 1-

'Joey" Jen called up the stairs. "You better get your butt down here. Dawson will be here any minute!". 

"I'm coming, I'm coming" Joey called down hurriedly, giving her hair one last quick brush. "How do I look?" she asked after presenting herself in frontof Jen a few minutes later.

"What does it really matter? Dawson hasn't seen you in months. He's not gonna care what you look like."

"Well, maybe Dawson's not the only one coming here today. There will be other people." Joey said primly.

"Since when do you care if you're your make-up isn't just right? What did you do with the Joey I know ?" 

"Since she found out that Anderson was coming" Jack supplied as he cruised by, his arms laden with dips and chip bags.

"Toxic waste" Jen wrinkled her nose in disgust at the goodies.

"Nectar of the gods" Jack shot back over his shoulder as he headed outside.

Jen turned her interested gaze on Joey. "Anderson, huh? I thought you were two were just friends."

"Thanks a lot" Joey called out sarcastically to Jack's back as he left. "We are" she told Jen. "I just want to look nice is all. Is that a crime?"

Jen assessed Joey critically. "I thought we both agreed to not base our worth and self-perception on the opinion of the opposite sex."

"I know, I know. Sheesh. All right, I'll go wash my face off and mess up my hair if that will make you happy."

"No, that's okay" Jen said with a smile. "Just checking." The two girls smiled at each other. "You look nice Joey." Jen said sweetly.

"Thanks, so do you."

"So, what other boys…excuse me…young men, will be here today?" Jen asked, linking her arm with Joey's as they headed outside.

"Aren't you going to ask about the girls?" Joey asked with a straight face, humor glinting in her eyes.

"No, I think we'll start with the boys." "…just to avoid any confusion about the guest list." Jen added hastily, a smile tugging at the corners of her mouth.

"Oh, well, if it's purely a matter of organization, then by all means, let's start with the boys." Joey teased with a grin.

"Let's see. There's Pacey and a few of his friends from the restaurant and his rather bohemian social life, about 4 boys and 3 girls, depending. You know Pacey. He could bring half of his apartment complex without a second thought, just expecting enough food to magically appear" Joey said affectionately. Jen smiled in fond agreement. Pacey was still Pacey, and they loved him for it.

"Oh, and maybe a few deckhands from that last boat trip he crewed." Joey added.

"Salt of the earth and hippy musician wanna- bes" Jen commented humorously. "Next."

"I really only invited a few people from my writing group."

"Highbrows and intellectuals." Jen quipped.

"Jack invited a few of the volunteers from the Boys and Girls club, and a few friends from school." Joey continued. "I think maybe even a few people from his gay and lesbian group, but unless you are looking to start a Will and Grace fan club, I don't see much possibility there." Joey gave a wicked little grin. It was a running joke in their little group of friends. Jack and Jen's close friendship seemed set in stone.

"Okay, this sounds a little better." Jen said, ignoring Joey's comment. "Idealistic do-gooders. I can live with that."

Since Dawson is coming from Colorado, he's going to come alone, unless he brings his girlfriend." Joey said calmly.

Jen gave Joey a serious glance. "Are you okay with that?" she asked with gentle concern, giving Joey's arm a light squeeze.

Joey shrugged. "I guess…of course…I don't know. I guess it's always going to be a little weird seeing Dawson with someone else, but there is no reason why it should be." "It might just take a little practice, that's all" she added with a smile.

"No time like the present" Jen encouraged.

"Right" Joey said resolutely.

"And I'm here to help."

"Right"

"And…Anderson" Jen said with an amused and smug smile on her face.

Joey blushed a little.

"Why Miss Potter, I do believe you are blushing. Could it be that the gallant young gentleman has stolen the fair maiden's heart?"

A short burst of laughter escaped Joey. "I'm not sure he'd appreciate being called a gallant gentleman- too old-fashioned- and lets see…I'm not sure I would still qualify as a maiden."

"Well, if you aren't sure maybe you better get a hold of Pacey and make sure he does a better job of it this time." Jen said crisply, and disengaging her arm from Joey's with a smirk, she set off to greet the first arrivals, leaving Joey standing open-mouthed on the lawn. 

*** 


	2. A New Arrival

-Chapter 2-

The car door opened and a young man Jen had never seen before stepped out. Unfolded was more like it. He was tall, too tall. He dwarfed her small stature. He had light sandy brown hair, a slow deep smile and a twinkle in his eye. He looked like a Disney child actor all grown up. Boyish and all- American. Not handsome. But not unhandsome. Attractive, Jen thought, but not in an overwhelming way. Low key. Easy on the eyes. Natural.

"You must be Jen" he said, with just a hint of a drawl. "I think I would have recognized you anywhere. Pacey described you perfectly."

Jen stood dumbfounded a moment, then recovered. "I'm sorry, I didn't know anyone was coming early. I was expecting Pacey" she said, just to say anything, feeling like her brain had frozen.

"Oh, did I come to early? I can leave and come back later. I didn't mean to be unmannerly. I thought Pacey said…"

"No, no, it's fine" Jen interrupted hurriedly. "Of course, stay. I'm just surprised, that's all. You are of course welcome to stay, if you don't mind some mess and confusion. We're still setting everything up, and it seems to be taking forever." she explained apologetically.

"No need to explain. I know how these things go. Maybe I can help" the tall stranger offered. "I'm particularly good at the high stuff" he added with a little twinkle in his eye.

"Well, actually, that would be great….?."

"Mark" the stranger supplied, answering Jen's implied question. "Oh, I am sorry. I do seem to be forgetting my manners. My name is Mark Rogers. Pleased to meet you, Jennifer Lindley" he said politely as he enfolded Jen's small hand in a warm handshake and smiled down into her eyes.

Jen felt like she would faint. His hand was so big, it almost enveloped hers. Slightly rough from some kind of manual labor she guessed, strong but fine, with a touch of gentleness. She felt a little shoot of electricity go up her arm. Oh she got it bad, Jen realized. She hardly knew his name and already she was starting to get all those feelings, weak knees and all. Not good. Bad. Very bad. Danger. She'd have to be very careful around this one. Probably a lady killer with those beautiful gray-green eyes and disarming little drawl. But he did seem nice. Really nice.

"Nice to meet you too." She said politely, returning the handshake. "And you know Pacey from where…?"

"Sailing. Over the winter holiday's a few month's back. We crewed together a few weeks on a trip down to South America. Struck up a bit of a friendship. Passed the time on KP duty talking mostly about him, his life, his friends... " he gave another slow little smile. Jen felt herself blush just a little bit. Who knew what Pacey had said about her!?! It was embarrassing to imagine.

"Well, I'm certainly at a disadvantage" Jen said in her most polite-hostess voice. "You probably know my deepest darkest secrets and I hardly know anything about you. Well, nothing really, except you sailed with Pacey." 

He was amused, she could see it in his eyes. He was amused by her polite formality.

"I wouldn't say I know any of your secrets, Ms. Lindley, but I sure would like the opportunity to find out a few of them." And he gave her another small but killer smile.

"I'm sure you say that to all the girls." Jen replied with a smile of her own. He was flirting with her, she just knew it!

"Well, how 'bout I go find something to do to make myself useful, and we can spend some time later getting to know each other better" he said with friendly ease.

"Of course. We could use the help. They're setting up some sound equipment and a little stage over there for a very informal musical presentation later this afternoon. I'm sure your tall reach would be…quite useful" she said with proper hostess aplomb.

"I'm sure it would" he agreed with an amused glint still in his eyes.

"Oh, I almost forgot" he said as he ducked his tall frame into the too small, slightly rickety foreign made car and came out with a bottle of home-made lemon vinegar in one hand and a large jar of apple honey in the other. "I didn't want to come empty handed. A hostess gift for a very gracious hostess" he said graciously as he handed the jars to her. "One made by my sister and one put together by me. I hope you like them." "Oh, and some flowers" he added, ducking back into the car and coming out with a rather large bouquet of flowers which he proceeded

to place across Jen's arms.

Jen stood there a moment with a jar in each hand, drowning in the flowers in her arms, unsure of what to say.

"Thank you…but I'm really only the co-hostess." She managed to say.

"Oh, Pacey said to make sure I introduced myself to you. He definitely led me to believe…"

"…that I was the hostess extrordinaire and every other girl here was a two-headed gargoyle" Jen interrupted, finishing the sentence for him.

"No, no, he wouldn't be so ungallant. He only had good things to say…about everyone." Mark hastily assured her.

"Good to hear. Probably untrue, but good to hear. The main person responsible for setting this up is Joey Potter, the tall girl with the long brown hair." Jen pointed to Joey as best she could with her chin, as her hand were full.

"Ahh…the ex-girlfriend with the good grades…and the serious boyfriend."

"Joey doesn't have a serious boyfriend" Jen corrected him, momentarily confused.

"Well, Pacey said…"

"No, stop" Jen interrupted with a little laugh. "I get the general idea here." 

A look of comprehension crossed Mark's face.

"We've been…" Jen started.

"Set up" they both said almost in unison, Jen the first to say it.

"Set up" Mark repeated, uncomfortable but also a bit amused. "Well, this is a slightly awkward situation" Mark commented.

"Don't worry about it. My friends have done this kind of thing before" Jen assured him.

There was a brief and awkward pause in the conversation.

"I guess I should take at least one of these gifts over to Joey…" he said doubtfully, looking rather helplessly at the gifts still in Jen's arms.

"No, don't worry about it. The flowers will look beautiful on the buffet table, and I can put some of the honey out too. Joey and I will figure out the rest later. But if you could just…" Jen awkwardly tried to adjust the flowers which were starting to slip out of her arms.

"Oh, of course." Mark sprung to assist her, taking the flowers.

"Why don't you go say hello to Joey and give her the flowers while I go put these jars away" Jen suggested.

"Good idea" Mark sounded relieved.

"And then you could help with the stage, that would be great."

"My pleasure"

"And we could talk later."

"I look forward to it."

"And thank you so much for the gifts. That was very nice of you."

"Don't mention it. I'm glad that you like them."

"Okay, so…bye" Jen concluded awkwardly, unable to put a gracious end to the conversation.

"Bye" "Oh, Jennifer, it was nice to meet you" he called after her as she started to leave.

"It was nice to meet you too. And it's just Jen. Only my Grams calls me Jennifer."

"Then Jen it is. Although Jennifer is such a pretty name."

"But not very East Coast"

"Maybe that's why I like it" he said with a warm smile before turning to go find Joey, holding the flowers in front of him.

*** 


End file.
